More Gnomes!

  Good morning everyone!  I hope you all had a great weekend.  We hung around the house on Saturday since it was kind of rainy and I got some stamping done.  I just have to edit the photos and I'll start sharing them.  Yesterday started off gray and cold and then it got sunny and warmed up which we were thankful for since we had friends coming for dinner and we wanted to eat out on the patio.  A nice relaxing weekend for sure!

  Remember today is the last day to order from the Occasions Mini catalog.  Demonstrators have not been told if anything from the mini will be carried over to the big catalog so if there's something you can't live without today is the day to order it.  Aren't you going to miss the sweet little gnomes from Gnome Sweet Gnome?  This was my most used set from the mini catalog and I have 2 more cards to show today using it.

  My downline Jen (hey girl!) is doing an awesome job of sharing Stampin' Up! in her neck of the woods and she had several of her stamping ladies take advantage of the Starter Kit special During Sale-a-bration.  I wanted to welcome Judy and Kim to our group and to Stampin' Up! so what better way to do that than send a card right?

 I made these back in March I think so I probably used some sketch challenges from somewhere but can't even remember now.  The base of this card is scored with the Simply Scored diagonal plate, it's hard to see in the photo but it really adds a neat element to the card.  Both cards were colored with markers and a blender pen.

 

  I love the combination of green and purple and thought this one works nicely for spring.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Gnome Sweet Gnome, Petite Pairs

Ink: Stazon, Pool Party, Pear Pizzazz, Lucky Limeade, Wisteria Wonder, Poppy Parade, Blushing Bride

Paper: Poppy Parade, Whisper White, Lucky Limeade DSP, Pool Party, Crumb Cake, Wisteria Wonder, Pear Pizzazz

Accessories: Simply Scored, white brads, circle punches, jewelry tag punch, bakers twine, itty bitty punch pack, dimensionals

Twitterpated Thank You

  

  Wow!  A lot of stuff going on in the world of Stampin' Up!  We got the retiring stamp list a few weeks ago, and then yesterday the retiring accessories list was released.  Lots of favorites are retiring but that just makes me excited to see what new products will be taking their place come the new catalog on June 1.  I'm sure my wish list will be a mile long!

  If you've looked at the retiring lists and have questions feel free to leave a comment or send an e-mail and I will be more than happy to help in any way I can.

  On to the card!  I made this one for the husband of one of my stamping ladies.  He ordered his wife a very nice birthday present back at the end of February (yes, I'm terribly behind on my personal stamping!).  I say you can't go wrong with stamping supplies as a birthday gift since it's always the right size!  I usually make a little something to tuck into my customers order bags but with online orders I don't get the chance to do that so I send a thank you card instead.

 I combined 2 challenges for this one; Splitcoaststampers Color Challenge (CC371) to use Whisper White, Basic Gray & Sahara Sand and the sketch challenge from last week at Freshly Made Sketches.  

  There is actually very little stamping on this card....just the Thank You from Thank You Kindly (soon to be retired!) which is stamped in Basic Gray and then cut out and matted with the Framelits dies.  I used two Basic Gray brads to dress up the focal point a bit.

  The base of the card is Sahara Sand with a layer of Whisper White and then a layer of Twitterpated DSP (also soon to be retired!).  I added a strip of Whisper White 5/8" satin ribbon to keep with the sketch (again on the retiring list!).

  All in all a very simple card and a good layout for many different types of cards. 

  I hope to get some stamping time in tomorrow so I'll have something fun to show over the weekend.  Don't forget that Mother's Day is coming!  Start planning out your gift items and cards.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Thank You Kindly

Ink: Basic Gray

Paper: Sahara Sand Whisper White, Twitterpated DSP


Accessories: Framelits dies, 5/8" satin ribbon, brads

Baby Card 2 Ways

  I needed to get some baby cards made and decided to make the same design just using different colors for the cards.  When time is at a minimum it's easier to make multiples since you already have all the supplies out.

 I hope you all aren't tired of seeing these gnomes!  I think Gnome Sweet Gnome is a great set for all occasions.  Just pair them up with just about any sentiment; birthday, saying hi, thinking of you, baby etc. and you've got a very versatile set.  Only a few days left to get this set...it's in the Occasions Mini and it will be gone at the end of April!  But check out the bottom of this post to find out how you can win your own Gnome Sweet Gnome set.

  For the layout I used the Clean & Simple (CAS) Challenge on Splitcoaststampers from last week.  I really like this layout for smaller images since it won't get lost with a lot of extra stuff going on. 

  I used the Color Coach for my color combination.  I wanted to use the Twitterpated DSP (also in the Occasions mini!) for my banner element on both cards.  For the boy card the Color Coach suggested using Basic Gray & Cajun Craze along with the Baja Breeze.  For the girl card I used Sahara Sand & Perfect Plum to go with the Blushing Bride.

  Both baby gnomes are paper pieced using the same DSP as the banner. I colored them with inkpads and a blender pen.  I added a button with bakers twine and popped up the scallop circle for more dimension. 

  Now for the details on how you can be entered to win your very own clear mount Gnome Sweet Gnome set.  Really it's all very simple...just place an order through my online store of at least $20 before tax & shipping and you'll be entered to win.  For each additional $20 on your order you will receive another entry and so forth and so on.  For my local ladies, this applies to you also but you can contact me directly to place your orders (if the group order reaches hostess benefit levels I will do another drawing for that!).  I will be putting in the final order of April on Friday afternoon.  Don't miss out on any of the fun Occasion Mini catalog items!!

  I'm off to finish getting ready for my class tonight and tomorrow morning!  Have a great day!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?


 Stamps: Gnome Sweet Gnome, Petite Pairs

 Ink: Going Gray, Cajun Craze, Sahara Sand, Perfect Plum

 Paper: Whisper White, Twitterpated DSP, Going Gray, Sahara Sand


 Accessories: buttons, baker's twine, scallop circle punch, dimensionals,

A Little of This, A Little of That

  We are very happy in our house today since the Flyers won their playoff game against Pittsburgh yesterday afternoon!  All four of us sat and watched the game and ate popcorn (well, the boys sat and watched until the popcorn was gone).  Not a bad way to spend a cold rainy day.  Now we have to wait for the other series to finish up so we know who our next opponent is going to be. 

  Today (well I guess it's now tonight....where did my day go?) I'm showing a few cards that I've received recently as invitations or swap cards.  My stamping ladies are so talented aren't they?  I don't really get very many cards in the mail, I send out a ton, but very rarely get any myself so it's super exciting to open an envelope or exchanges cards in a swap and see something that someone else made for a change!

  Check out these fun cards!

By Cory A.

   How awesome are these Sesame Street punch art characters?  The bright colors and fun faces are perfect for a preschooler birthday invitation.

By Beth R.

   Here's another great kids birthday invitation!  The giant Mario face on the card front is super fun for a themed birthday party.

By Jill F.

  This is a classic one layer card and sweet too!  I love how the front flap is cut a bit smaller and the image is stamped on the inside so you can see it peeking out from underneath.

By Debbie C.

 Isn't this the cutest flower pot card?  I love the pearls in the popped up centers and the pretty spring colors.

  I think I should get my stamping ladies to contribute more projects to show on my blog!  Maybe I need to pretend it's my birthday a few times a year to see if I can get some extra fun mail??  Do you think they would fall for it?

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

 

Dogwood Blossoms

 Today doesn't feel much like spring here in central Virginia!  It's in the low 50s and rainy!  Yuck.  But we're home from church and Sunday school and staying put (and dry!) for the rest of the day.   It's a good day to stay inside and stamp though!  Hopefully I can fit that in this afternoon after I watch some NHL playoffs.  My Philadelphia Flyers haven't looked so hot the last 2 games and we're hoping they can pull off the 4th win to win the series against the Penguins.  I know Philly fans get a bad rap but I'm really a nice person, I promise!  =)

  Right now I'm going to share another Creative Crew project from last month. I used my gorgeous dogwood trees as inspiration for this sketch challenge.  They are all finished blooming now and growing out their leaves but they were awesome for the 3 weeks or so that the blossoms lasted.  We were also to focus on using the soon to be retired In Colors for these challenges so I went with Blushing Bride and Pear Pizzazz and some Early Espresso since that's what the Color Coach suggested.

  Now for the card....I didn't have a better oval punch to use so the shape of the petals aren't exact but I think you can see where I was going!

 

  I used watercolor paper to make the petals and ink and an Aquapainter to color them.  I used a small circle punch to nip the ends off and then highlighted it with a Pear Pizzazz marker.  While the petals were still damp from the watercoloring I used my bone folder to slightly curl the tips up (kind of like using scissor to curl ribbon). Once they were dry I assembled the blossoms and popped them up on dimensionals. 

  For the centers I punched out a bunch of little circles using the Owl Punch and adhered them to a larger circle.  I added some Dazzling Details to give them a bit of sparkle....not exactly like the real thing but it's an "interpretation" right?

  The Blushing Bride cardstock base is embossed with the Elegant Line embossing folder and the Pear Pizzazz DSP is layered on top.  I added some Blushing Bride DSP to the inside of the card and cut away a bit of the front flap so it shows and then layered a piece of Early Espresso that was punched with the scallop border punch.  A length and a little bit more of the adhesive pearls finishes off details.

  The game is just about to start so I'm going to grab my bowl of popcorn and get ready to cheer!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Petite Pairs

Ink: Blushing Bride, Pear Pizzazz, Early Espresso

Paper: Blushing Bride, Very Vanilla, watercolor paper, Early Espresso, In Color Hostess DSP pack (retired)

Accessories: oval punches, Owl punch, circle punches, Dazzling Details, dimensionals, adhesive pearls, scallop trim border punch, Elegant Lines embossing folder

 

Z Fold Gnome Card

  I don't know about you, but I love this card!  The bright colors and cute little gnome make me smile.  We did this one last month at stamp club.  The ladies got to use the Simply Scored and did a little bit of coloring with ink pads and blender pens.

  The base of the card is Poppy Parade cut to 4 1/4" x 11 and scored at 2 3/4" & 5 1/2".

  The colors used to for the image are Poppy Parade, Blushing Bride, Pool Party, Lucky Limeade and Soft Suede.

  We stamped the "sprinkling happiness" sentiment on the inside and then positioned the image panel to hide it until you open the card.

  The top panel is accented with an In Color printed brad.  My stamping ladies got to choose between Pool Party and Lucky Limeade.

  Don't forget to check my sidebar for the list of retiring stamps.  Don't miss out on one that has been on your wish list.  The retiring accessories list will be coming out on April 25th so look for that to be posted then.

  I hope everyone has a nice weekend!  I have about 6 cards to make for various things (that I am way late in sending!) so I hope to get some quality time in the stamp room. 

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?


  Stamps: Gnome Sweet Gnome

 Ink: Stazon, Poppy Parade, Blushing Bride, Pool Party, Lucky Limeade, Soft Suede

 Paper: Poppy Parade, Lucky Limeade, Very Vanilla, Everyday Enchantment DSP (retired)

Accessories: Printed In Color brad, dimensionals, blender pen

Daffodil Fields

  I am woefully behind on posting projects lately!  This is a My Digital Studio (MDS) layout that I did with photos from last spring when we went to Connecticut for Easter. 

  My mother-in-law wanted to take us to go visit this place where there are daffodils planted all over a wooded hillside with a pond and rock walls. It was just gorgeous! The boys has a great time running around exploring.

I used various punches, papers and stamps to create the page.  My main colors were So Saffron, Pear Pizzazz, Crumb Cake, Daffodil Delight (of course!), and Baja Breeze. 

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp (or digital papercraft!) today?

Supplies: My Digital Studio (MDS)

Dino Birthday Swap

  I hope everyone had a happy Easter and an enjoyable Spring Break if you're like our area with the week off from school and all the kids home!  We've had a nice week for sure.  We headed out to a rented cabin in one of Virginia's State Parks for a few days of hiking and fishing and quiet time in the woods.  We didn't have internet or cell service and it was divine.  The boys really enjoyed playing with sticks and poking around in the woods and my husband and I got to relax with our books. 

  Now that we're home and back in the world it's time to get back to blogging and sharing some projects from the past month.

  Some of my stamping ladies and I participated in a card swap last month.  We each made a card to swap with the others.  I needed a little boy birthday card so I decided to design a card that I could make multiples of and use the same design for my swap.

  In an ongoing effort not to have a ton of retiring In Color cardstock left I choose to make the base Pear Pizzazz.  I stamped some grass down on the corner also in Pear Pizzazz.  The dinosaur is embossed with black embossing powder onto a Whisper White circle that is pierced along the edge all the way around.  I used a blender pen to color the dino in with Pear Pizzazz and Pacific Point ink. He is of course popped up on dimensionals.

  The sentiment is also embossed in black on a strip of Pacific Point with white brads on the ends.

  The card layout was a design on the challenge blog Freshly Made Sketches a while back.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Dinoroar

Ink: Pear Pizzazz, Pacific Point, Versamark

Paper: Pear Pizzazz, Pacific Point, Whisper White, Pool Party DSP

Accessories: black embossing powder, paper piercer, blender pen, white brads, Circles #2 die

Clear Case Stationery Set

 I made this project last month for one of my Creative Crew challenges and I never got around to blogging about it.  I had bought the empty clear mount stamp cases to try this project a long, long time ago and never did it.  The Creative Crew challenge got my butt in gear to get one finished.

 I used the now retired Everyday Enchantment Sale-a-bration DSP for this one.  I even made a matching pen that attaches to a loop on the outside of the case.

  I used some writing paper that I had from a large stationery set I had been given and just cut it down to fit the case.  I stamped the corner of each sheet with the Fresh Vintage stamp set (also retired Sale-a-bration) and then made a belly band to hold the paper together. 

  For the other side of the case I created 4 coordinating notecards to be used for any occasion.  I thought this would be a great gift for someone who travels a lot and may need to send cards and letters while they are away.  The case keeps all the paper and cards from getting bent and has a pen handy so you don't have to dig through your purse or bag for one.

 I'll be offering a similar class this month using the Summer Smooches sneak peek items.  The class will make a clear case stationery set with 4 cards with envelopes, 4 3x3 cards with envelopes, a notepad and pen.  This class will be totally customizable as each person will get 6 sheets of the Summer Smooches DSP to design their own case and accessories!  If you're interested please let me know and I'll send you the details.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Fresh Vintage

Ink: Poppy Parade, Pool Party, Lucky Limeade


Paper: Everyday Enchantment DSP, Lucky Limeade, Poppy Parade, Very Vanilla


Accessories:  scallop trim border punch, scallop circle punch, postage stamp punch, Simple Letters die, Itty Bitty punch pack, Pool Party Ruffled ribbon

Easter Bunny Punch Art

  Here is one of the projects we made last week at stamp club.  I wanted everyone to see how cool the new Edgelits dies are.  And who can resist some fun punch art right?

  We used the Edgelit to cut out the "hill" in Wild Wasabi and then embossed the edge with the coordinating Adorning Accents embossing folder.  The little blades of grass on the hill are hand drawn with a Wild Wasabi marker.  The cute flower buttons are a perfect finishing touch.  My ladies got to choose what color they liked from the Subtles button assortment.  We tied a bit of Baker's Twine so the button wouldn't look naked!

  The sky was made by sponging Marina Mist ink around a scallop circle mask.  Start at the top of the cardstock and work your way across and down to get the clouds.  Before I made the sky part I showed my husband the bunny peeking over the hill and he said it looked like a bunny with the covers pulled up to his chin in bed!  He said it looked better once I did the sky & clouds...but now I still see a bunny laying in bed!  Oh well!

  Here is the punch list for making the bunny.  Please excuse my poor handwriting!  The body is made using Crumb Cake cardstock even though it looks darker on scan.  The pieces are sponged with Chocolate Chip and the little toes are drawn on using the Chocolate Chip marker.  A white gel pen was used to make the bunny's face.  The inside part of the ears made from the Twitterpated DSP are hand trimmed since we no longer have a current oval punch that nests with the large size so just get out your trusty paper snips and trim away until you get the size that works for you.

 
  I hope everyone has a Happy Easter!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Delightful Dozen (Easter sentiment used on the inside)


Ink: Marina Mist, Chocolate Chip

Paper: Marina Mist, Wild Wasabi, Whisper White, Crumb Cake, Chocolate Chip, Blushing Bride, Twitterpated DSP

Accessories: Punchs (see list above), Subtles buttons, Baker's Twine, Edgelits, Adorning Accents embossing folder, white gel pen, markers (Chocolate Chip, Wild Wasabi)

Embellishment Container Mini Album

  I don't know about everyone else out there but I'm getting pretty excited about the new Stampin' Up! catalog that will be coming out June 1.  Demonstrators have gotten a few sneak peeks and we'll get to pre-order and see more at the beginning of May (customers can order beginning June 1).  From what I've seen so far I'll have lots of new products to play with!  But in the meantime we've got to start saying good-bye to the soon-to-be-retired 2010-2012 In Colors.  Concord Crush, Peach Parfait, Pear Pizzazz, Blushing Bride, and Poppy Parade will no longer be available after May 31.  Now is the time to stock up on reinkers, paper and accessories before there is a run on them once the retiring accessories list is officially released on April 25.

  The theme of the Creative Crew projects for April is to use the retiring In Colors for all of the projects.  I had quite a bit of cardstock left but only scraps for ribbon, a few brads and only the retired In Color Hostess DSP pack from last year's catalog.  I was able to piece together my projects but I came to realize how much I love having the matching accessories to go with all of my Stampin' Up! colors. 

  One of our challenges for Creative Crew was to make a mini scrapbook.  Now you all know that I'm not much of a scrapbooker so this one was a bit tough for me especially since it was getting close to the wire for when I needed to have my projects submitted.  I had a moment of inspiration and decided to go with it.  I have a lot of empty embellishment containers so I thought that one of them would be a good container for a mini scrapbook.

  I used the Circles #2 die, the large scallop circle punch and the Itty Bitty punch pack to decorate the top.  I used one of my scraps of Concord Crush twill ribbon to wrap around the base.  The sentiment stamp is from the Field Flowers set and I thought it worked with the photos I chose for the inside.

  The same colors, Circles #2 die and scallop circle punch were used for the inside as well.  The little tabs were made using the Word Window punch.

  I used My Digital Studio to print the photos.  I used the photo box option and changed the shape to circle then adjusted the size to 1 3/4" so I could just punch out the circles with my 1 3/4" circle punch once it was printed.  When you add the photo it fits right into the pre-sized circle.  Genius! Well not really but I thought it was a good idea to get the photos the right size!

  I alternated the Concord Crush, Peach Parfait and Pear Pizzazz and put photos on each side so I was able to have 12 photos in total on this mini scrapbook.  I used sticky strip to adhere the tabs to the scallop circles to make sure they didn't pull apart when the stack was pulled out of the container.

  This is the photo stack folded up, ready to go back into the container.  You can see how I used 2 scallop circles sandwiched together for each panel.

  So if you've got several empty brad or button containers just sitting around go ahead and make a little mini scrapbook.  I think these would be perfect for Mother's Day....all the grandkids stacked up in a sturdy little container for Grandma.  She could tuck the whole thing in her purse to take to her next bridge game to show off the loves of her life! 

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Field Flowers

Ink: Concord Crush

Paper: Pear Pizzazz, Concord Crush, Peach Parfait, Whisper White, In Color Hostess DSP pack (retired)

Accessories: Itty Bitty punch pack, Circles #2 die, Scallop circle punch, Word Window punch, MDS, Concord Crush twill ribbon

Blue Postage Stamp Thank You

  This past week has been quite the whirlwind and I haven't had much time to post any projects!  It was the final week of Sale-a-bration, I had 2 session of stamp club, my 4 Splitcoaststampers Creative Crew April projects were due (which of course I hadn't started yet!), and other obligations for school and family.  I think things will calm down at least I hope they do so I can get some stamping time in just for me!

  I have all of my Creative Crew and stamp club projects to share but I still have some editing to do on the photos so those will be coming in the next week or so.  Right now I have a project that I made a few weeks back when I needed a few more thank yous.  This was a Clean & Simple (CAS) challenge on Splitcoaststampers.  We were to use white and shades of blue on our project.

  Again, I think the colors are funky looking in this photo but I think you get the idea!  A few of my stamping ladies really liked using the postage stamp punch on one of the club projects so hopefully this card gives them a few more ideas for that sweet little punch!

  The base is Marina Mist with a layer of Whisper White textured cardstock on top.  I tied a fork bow using Marina Mist taffeta ribbon to wrap around the base layers. 

  For the image panel I stamped with Marina Mist, Baja Breeze and Pool Party inks using the stamp stamp  (ha! that looks funny!) from the Sale-a-bration set Fresh Vintage.  I also heat embossed the "thank U" with white embossing powder onto Marina Mist cardstock and punched it out with the postage stamp punch.

  I layered all the punches onto another square of Whisper White textured and layered it again on some Marina Mist.

  This card took no time at all!  Sometimes Clean & Simple (CAS) cards take a while to get the right balance of open space and color and layout but this one seemed to come together very quickly.  I should have made more while I was at it!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Fresh Vintage, Pennant Parade (sentiment)

Ink: Marina Mist, Baja Breeze, Pool Party, Versamark

Paper: Whisper White, Whisper White textured, Marina Mist

Accessories: Postage stamp punch, taffeta ribbon